Categories

Even if Trevor Rosenthal isn’t closing for Washington

WEST PALM BEACH Alen Hanson Jersey , Fla. (AP) — he’ll take the mound believing he is.“I think that’s what ultimately allowed me to be successful as a closer is I just have one mentality, one approach,” Rosenthal said. “I approach every single inning kind of like I’m closing. I think that’s ultimately allowed me to be successful and I plan on keeping that same approach in the future.”Rosenthal saved 93 games for St. Louis in 2014 and 2015 combined, but the Cardinals released him following the 2017 season after he underwent Tommy John surgery.The righty didn’t pitch in 2018 and signed a one year, $8 millon contract with the Nationals in October. He arrived at camp ready to fire.In his first appearance of the spring, Rosenthal hit triple digits on the scoreboard’s radar gun. The Nationals have encouraged him to back off a bit as he prepares to pitch in a major league game for the first time since August 2017.“He’s been going great,” Washington manager Dave Martinez said. “He wants to amp it up. It’s more important for me that his mechanics are good to keep his arm strong.”Opponents who survive the three aces at the top of Washington’s rotation — Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg and Patrick Corbin —will still have to navigate a trio of closers late in games.In Sean Doolittle, Kyle Barraclough and Rosenthal the Nationals have three experienced closing arms at the back end of a bullpen that pitched to a 4.05 ERA last season Edgar Martinez Jersey , 15th best in baseball.It starts — or, in this case, ends — with Doolittle.“He’s our closer,” Washington manager Dave Martinez said.A two-time All-Star, Doolittle saved 35 games for Washington last season and 28 the year prior. With Rosenthal sharing the same bullpen, Martinez intends to occasionally use the left-handed Doolittle to match up against lefties in earlier innings.“Having three guys that take that closer mentality into whatever inning that they pitch could really shorten the game,” Doolittle said.Acquired in an October trade, Barraclough saved 10 games for Miami last season.“In a perfect world you have Bear, Rosenthal, Doolittle Ryon Healy Jersey ,” Martinez said, indicating the order the trio would appear in games. “But there’s going to be certain situations in the game where I’d rather see Rosenthal facing this group of hitters and then Barraclough facing the next group of hitters.”Washington cleared some room in its bullpen by releasing left-hander Sammy Solis on Saturday. Solis posted a 6.41 ERA in 56 appearances for the Nationals last season and owns a career 4.51 ERA over four seasons with Washington. SEATTLE (AP) — Major League Baseball is investigating claims made against the Seattle Mariners by the team’s recently fired training and conditioning director, who said team management had disparaged Latino players.The Mariners denied the allegations in a statement on Monday following the social media postings from Lorena Martin in which she claimed general manager Jerry Dipoto, manager Scott Servais and director of player development Andy McKay had called Latino players “lazy, dumb and stupid, especially the Dominicans.” Martin, whose title with the team was director of high performance, posted her message on Instagram and Twitter .The Mariners said Martin, who was hired with much fanfare last year, was relieved of her duties on Oct. 10.“While it is our policy to not comment on personnel issues http://www.marinersfanproshop.com/authentic-edgar-martinez-jersey , we do feel it is important to respond to the outrageous, false claims made by her today on social media. And to note that Martin did not make any of these false allegations until after she was relieved of her duties,” the Mariners statement read.“The Mariners categorically deny that any member of our management or coaching staff made racist remarks regarding any of our players or staff. Additionally, we have not terminated (or threatened to terminate) any trainers during the offseason,” the statement continued.In her posting, Martin called Dipoto a “poor leader” and said the Mariners would not make the playoffs with the current leadership structure. She said her posting was “a glimpse of what I’ve experienced.” In a later comment on Twitter , Martin said there was a breach of contract by the Mariners and she had reported “discriminatory incidences” to human resources and other staff members during the season.“MLB is aware of the allegations made by a former employee of the Seattle Mariners regarding the conduct of club employees. Consistent with our policies, we are investigating the allegations,” the commissioner’s office said in a statement Tuesday.Martin was hired by the Mariners to oversee their entire training and conditioning program. The Mariners created the role for Martin in the hope she could improve the organization’s training practices and help prevent injuries. She had come to Seattle after serving as the director of sports performance analytics for the Los Angeles Lakers.